Last Modified: Friday, August 23, 2013 at 1:17 p.m.

Facts

Jason Mott will read from "The Returned" and sign copies of his new novel beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Pomegranate Books, 4418 Park Ave.

Having drawn extravagant praise well before publication – both Publishers Weekly and Booklist gave it "starred" reviews – the novel has already been picked up by ABC as a midseason replacement series (retitled "Resurrection").

It's easy to see why the network was so enthusiastic. "The Returned" offers a near-future thriller/disaster plot of a sort that's drawn big ratings lately, like "Revolution" or "Under the Dome."

"The Returned," however, is something rather more. It's a rare work of fiction that delivers rounded, nuanced characterization and a brisk plot together with a rare juggling of serious ideas. Some readers might be reminded of P.D. James' "The Children of Men."

In "The Returned," the dead come back – not as zombies, not as homicidal creatures as in Stephen King's "Pet Sematary," but basically as themselves.

Not everyone comes back, and not all at once. With a few exceptions, the Returned are people who died, as the Victorians put, in the prime of life – generally, in wars, in accidents, in homicides or occasionally in plagues. They appear as they did on the day they died.

It's all very random and confusing. A little boy from Southeastern North Carolina wakes up in a Chinese fishing village where no one speaks English. A Japanese soldier from World War II comes to in rural Bladen County and spends days trying to tell people he's surrendering. The governments of the world struggle to cope with what's happening.

Mott's narrative focuses on the small town of Arcadia, somewhere in eastern North Carolina. (There are passing references to Wilmington, Southport, Lake Waccamaw and Riegelwood.)

His prime characters are Harold and Lucille, a couple in their 70s. He's a skeptic in the Mark Twain mold who likes to pretend he's crotchety; she's a devout Baptist who pulls her vocabulary from the Readers Digest "Word Power" quiz.

Harold and Lucille had just one child, a little boy who drowned in a local river at the age of 8, back in 1966. The loss scarred them, but they adjusted. Now, however, a government agent arrives at the door with Jacob, who looks just as he did in 1966.

Naturally, his presence poses problems. Is this really Jacob, or some sort of demonic monster, or (as one character puts it) some kind of carbon copy? (Jacob certainly seems like a normal 8-year-old, especially in his appetite and his taste for truly awful puns.)

Not all the Returned are exactly welcomed back by their loved ones. Some have no homes to return to. As their numbers rise, a vague international agency connected to NATO opens a kind of concentration camp for the Returned in Arcadia's old school. Local soreheads of the "True Living" movement start to grumble and demonstrate. More soldiers arrive at the camp, bringing more tensions.

Occasionally, we get glimpses of life elsewhere. In Rochester, N.Y., a Jewish family takes in three young former soldiers in Hitler's army. A French sculptor, who died young and penniless, falls in love with the elderly female fan who promoted his works, now worth millions.

Mott tells all this with a wistful, elegiac tone, in a style very much like Ray Bradbury's. In his afterword, Mott makes clear that "The Returned" was inspired by the loss of his parents, and he uses his yarn as a springboard for meditations on grief, loss, memory and forgetfulness, as well as the ways America has changed since 9/11.

"The Returned" marks him as a major new talent, of which much will be expected.

<p>Columbus County's own Jason Mott makes a sparkling debut as a novelist with his supernatural tale "The Returned." </p><p>Having drawn extravagant praise well before publication – both Publishers Weekly and Booklist gave it "starred" reviews – the novel has already been picked up by ABC as a midseason replacement series (retitled "Resurrection").</p><p>It's easy to see why the network was so enthusiastic. "The Returned" offers a near-future thriller/disaster plot of a sort that's drawn big ratings lately, like "Revolution" or "Under the Dome."</p><p>"The Returned," however, is something rather more. It's a rare work of fiction that delivers rounded, nuanced characterization and a brisk plot together with a rare juggling of serious ideas. Some readers might be reminded of P.D. James' "The Children of Men."</p><p>In "The Returned," the dead come back – not as zombies, not as homicidal creatures as in Stephen King's "Pet Sematary," but basically as themselves.</p><p>Not everyone comes back, and not all at once. With a few exceptions, the Returned are people who died, as the Victorians put, in the prime of life – generally, in wars, in accidents, in homicides or occasionally in plagues. They appear as they did on the day they died.</p><p>It's all very random and confusing. A little boy from Southeastern North Carolina wakes up in a Chinese fishing village where no one speaks English. A Japanese soldier from World War II comes to in rural Bladen County and spends days trying to tell people he's surrendering. The governments of the world struggle to cope with what's happening.</p><p>Mott's narrative focuses on the small town of Arcadia, somewhere in eastern North Carolina. (There are passing references to Wilmington, Southport, Lake Waccamaw and Riegelwood.) </p><p>His prime characters are Harold and Lucille, a couple in their 70s. He's a skeptic in the Mark Twain mold who likes to pretend he's crotchety; she's a devout Baptist who pulls her vocabulary from the Readers Digest "Word Power" quiz.</p><p>Harold and Lucille had just one child, a little boy who drowned in a local river at the age of 8, back in 1966. The loss scarred them, but they adjusted. Now, however, a government agent arrives at the door with Jacob, who looks just as he did in 1966.</p><p>Naturally, his presence poses problems. Is this really Jacob, or some sort of demonic monster, or (as one character puts it) some kind of carbon copy? (Jacob certainly seems like a normal 8-year-old, especially in his appetite and his taste for truly awful puns.)</p><p>Not all the Returned are exactly welcomed back by their loved ones. Some have no homes to return to. As their numbers rise, a vague international agency connected to NATO opens a kind of concentration camp for the Returned in Arcadia's old school. Local soreheads of the "True Living" movement start to grumble and demonstrate. More soldiers arrive at the camp, bringing more tensions.</p><p>Occasionally, we get glimpses of life elsewhere. In Rochester, N.Y., a Jewish family takes in three young former soldiers in Hitler's army. A French sculptor, who died young and penniless, falls in love with the elderly female fan who promoted his works, now worth millions.</p><p>Mott tells all this with a wistful, elegiac tone, in a style very much like Ray Bradbury's. In his afterword, Mott makes clear that "The Returned" was inspired by the loss of his parents, and he uses his yarn as a springboard for meditations on grief, loss, memory and forgetfulness, as well as the ways America has changed since 9/11.</p><p>"The Returned" marks him as a major new talent, of which much will be expected.</p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic14"><b>Ben Steelman</b></a>: 343-2208</p>